Hajime Tabata (田畑 端, Tabata Hajime, born May 5, 1971) is a Japanese game director, the previous Luminous Productions COO and Head of Studio who formerly worked for Square Enix and currently the CEO of JP Games.
Hajime Tabata | |
|---|---|
田畑 端 | |
 Tabata at Lucca Comics & Games 2016 | |
| Born | May 5, 1971 |
| Occupation | CEO of JP Games |
He was the Head of Square Enix's Business Division 2[1] and part of the Final Fantasy Committee that is tasked with keeping the franchise's releases and content consistent.[2]
Tabata resigned from Luminous Productions and Square Enix Group on October 31, 2018.[3]
Career
editWhile in middle school, Tabata played a historical role-playing game made by Koei and first imagined how much fun it would be to make his own game.[4] In his last year of university, he applied for jobs in the video game industry and in other media arts such as documentaries, television and film.[4] He worked at several different video game publishers prior to his being hired at Square Enix, which he said gave him experience making action games, arcade games, and role-playing games.[4]
Square Enix
editIn the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the international outpouring of support for Japan was paralleled at Square Enix by fan letters about the then-upcoming release of Type-0, and encouraged Tabata to make something special for the fans and those living through difficult times.[5]
He became the director of Final Fantasy XV, taking over from Tetsuya Nomura in December 2013,[6] a change that was announced in September the following year.[7] He used to be co-director on the project.[5] During his work on Final Fantasy XV, Tabata joked about his busy schedule, mentioning he regularly got only three hours sleep.[5] Tabata, whose previous experience was with portable gaming devices, said that he was excited to work on console systems and wanted to "help players dive even deeper into their experiences".[5]
Tabata formerly served as producer for Final Fantasy XV downloadable content.[8][9][10] His work on the downloadable content was planned to continue into 2019.[11] He and staff within Square Enix Business Division 2 were also working on a new intellectual property targeting the next-generation of consoles.[12][1] Development for this project began in earnest in 2018, after previously only having a small team of 20-30 people assigned to it.[13][12]
In March 2018, Tabata created a new Tokyo game studio for Square Enix called Luminous Productions, which consists of several key members from the Final Fantasy XV team.[14] He was the COO and Head of Studio for Luminous Productions.[15]
Tabata resigned from Luminous Productions and Square Enix Group on October 31, which was confirmed by Square Enix on November 7. In addition, 3 of the 4 DLCs for Final Fantasy XV were cancelled.[3]
JP Games, Inc.
editWith the announcement of his resignation from Square Enix, Tabata began starting his own company, JP Games, Inc., which was launched in January 2019, to create a new project.[16] The first project, The Pegasus Dream Tour, a game themed around the 2020 Summer Paralympics, was released in June 2021 for iOS and Android.[17]
Works
edit| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Credit(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Monster Rancher 2 | PlayStation | Event director[18] |
| 1999 | Deception III: Dark Delusion | PlayStation | Event director[18] |
| 2004 | Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII | Mobile | Director, concept |
| 2005 | Last Order: Final Fantasy VII | Anime | Special thanks |
| 2006 | Monotone | Mobile | Director |
| 2007 | Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII | PlayStation Portable | Director |
| 2008-10 | Kingdom Hearts Coded | Mobile | Co-director |
| 2010 | The 3rd Birthday | PlayStation Portable | Director |
| 2011 | Final Fantasy Type-0 | PlayStation Portable | Director, original scenario design[19] |
| 2014 | Final Fantasy Agito | iOS, Android | Producer |
| 2015 | Final Fantasy Type-0 HD | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows | Producer, director |
| 2015 | Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius | iOS, Android | Special thanks |
| 2016 | Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV | Film | Producer |
| 2016 | Final Fantasy XV | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Director |
| 2017 | Mobius Final Fantasy | iOS, Android, Windows | Collaborative event support |
| 2017 | King's Knight: Wrath of the Dark Dragon | iOS, Android | Special thanks |
| 2017 | Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary | PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita | Special thanks |
| 2017 | Final Fantasy Dimensions II | iOS, Android | Special thanks |
| 2017 | Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV | PlayStation 4 (PlayStation VR) | Producer |
| 2018 | Dissidia Final Fantasy NT | PlayStation 4 | Special thanks |
| 2018 | Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition | iOS, Android, Windows | Producer |
| 2018 | Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition | Windows | Producer |
| 2018 | Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HD | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch | Producer |
| 2021 | The Pegasus Dream Tour | iOS, Android | Producer, Director |
References
edit- ^ a b "第2ビジネス・ディビジョン". Square Enix. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-07-21. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
- ^ "What Does Square Enix's Final Fantasy Committee Do?". Siliconera. March 25, 2014. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
- ^ a b Makuch, Eddie. "Final Fantasy 15 DLC Canceled, Director Hajime Tabata Leaves; Square Enix Posts $33 Million Loss". GameSpot. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- ^ a b c Seto, Dan (2014-11-12). "Who is Hajime Tabata?". Square Enix Europe. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
- ^ a b c d Farokhmanesh, Megan (2015-01-21). "Overworked but happy: The man behind Final Fantasy 15 and Type-0". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
- ^ Sato (April 5, 2016). "Final Fantasy XV's Release Date Was Already Decided Back In 2013". Siliconera. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016.
- ^ Sinan, Kubba (2014-09-18). "Nomura no longer directing Final Fantasy 15, new TGS trailer [update]". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
- ^ "Final Fantasy XV Comrades Final Boss/End Credits Part 2". YouTube. November 27, 2017. Archived from the original on April 30, 2018.
- ^ "Episode Gladiolus - Ending and Credits Final Fantasy XV 15". YouTube. March 29, 2017. Archived from the original on April 30, 2018.
- ^ "Episode Ignis Credits 1". YouTube. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on April 30, 2018.
- ^ Sato (February 23, 2018). "Final Fantasy XV Will Get Four New Episodes Through 2019 To "Complete The FFXV Universe"". Siliconera. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018.
- ^ a b Robinson, Martin (October 11, 2017). "The past, present and future of Final Fantasy 15". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017.
- ^ Sato (December 27, 2017). "Japanese Developers Share Their 2018 Ambitions And Teasers". Siliconera. Archived from the original on January 28, 2018.
- ^ Ruppert, Liana (March 28, 2018). "Square Enix Reveals New AAA Game Studio". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
- ^ "Square Enix Holdings Announces a New Development Studio LUMINOUS PRODUCTIONS". Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2018-03-27. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
- ^ Valentine, Rebekah (December 3, 2018). "Hajime Tabata announces new studio, JP Games". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
- ^ Gregson-Wood, Stephen (July 1, 2021). "The Pegasus Dream Tour interview: Hajime Tabata, former director at Square Enix, discusses creating the world's first official Paralympics game". PocketGamer.com. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
- ^ a b "Hajime Tabata Credits". MobyGames. Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
- ^ "Spec". Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-02-23.